Hate crimes in San Fernando Valley rise

The number of hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared by 28 percent last year to the highest level in five years, with the largest number of incidents in the San Fernando Valley, officials said Thursday.

The increase - to more than 760 - comes even as the Sheriff's Department and Los Angeles Police Department reported a 5percent to 6 percent reduction in overall crime.

But analysts said hate crimes in the county - up from 594 a year earlier - are fueled by an increase in white-supremacist gangs in the region, the growing popularity of "white power" music, gang rivalries and tensions between African-Americans and Latinos.

"This is the center of the `white power' music industry, right here in Los Angeles," said Amanda Susskind, director of the Pacific Southwest region of the Anti-Defamation League.

She said her organization has identified about 300 racist skinhead gangs in the county, where most of them didn't exist a decade ago.

"There is a lot of stuff going on, and these people are not only targeting the mainstream to increase hatred, but are specifically targeting kids, so parents need to talk to their kids about hatred," Susskind said.

The San Fernando Valley was the county area with the highest number of hate crimes last year: 190, up from 137 in 2007, according to the annual report from the county Commission on Human Relations.

"I think there are a number of different factors," said Robin Toma, executive director of the commission. "One is that certain parts of the Valley have pockets of white-supremacist activity."

The Antelope Valley logged 39 hate crimes, down from 42 the previous year.

"Racialized gang violence plays a role because there are not only white supremacists but Latino and African-American gangs in the Valley that get involved in racialized gang violence," she said.

"And not just gang on gang, but gangs targeting whoever is in their neighborhood who they believe doesn't belong."

Among last year's incidents, 310 hate crimes were against African-Americans, up from 237 the prior year. Crimes targeting Latinos because of their race or ethnicity increased from 88 to 121, and those against Asians rose from six to 18.

Hate crimes targeting gays and lesbians increased from 87 to 102, and those aimed at Jews rose from 65 to 78.

Crimes targeting victims because they are white jumped from 16 to 31, while those aimed at Christians because of religion rose from 13 to 14.

And tensions between African-Americans and Latinos boiled up in many of the hate crimes, the commission said. In anti-black crimes, 71 percent of the suspects were Latinos.

Overall, 131 hate crimes were associated with white supremacists, and Susskind said white- supremacist groups and skinhead gangs are intensely recruiting young boys.

"I really think this targeting of youngsters with this message of hate is almost a campaign to make hate hip," she said. "I don't know whether it's the media, people at large or the economy - stresses that are affecting urban life - but there are shifts in demographics that people are afraid of."

Hate crimes against Jews totaled one in 10 of all hate crimes in the county last year. And so far this year, several incidents already have been reported in the Valley alone - including Molotov cocktails used on the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus and a large swastika painted on a Jewish owner's moving truck.

Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss' Sherman Oaks office also was defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic writings, "KKK" was spray-painted on a car in Granada Hills, and a high school teacher in Burbank said anti-Semitic remarks were written on a classroom blackboard.

Toma said many Web sites and cable-TV and radio shows use racist humor, which could be contributing to an increase in hate crime.

"There is a greater amount of joking, stereotyping - things that allow people to casually and acceptably demean others."